Aristotle
Aristotle says in the Politica, vii. 1, p. 1323, a. 21: [Greek:
nomi/santas ou)=n i(kanô=s polla\ le/gesthai kai\ tô=n e)n toi=s
e)xôterikoi=s lo/gois peri\ tê=s a)ri/stês zô/ês, kai\ nu=n
chrêste/on au)toi=s], he intends to designate the Ethica. It may be
so; yet the Politica seems a continuation of the Ethica: moreover,
even in the Ethica, we find reference made to previous discussions,
[Greek: e)n toi=s e)xôterikô=s lo/gois] (Eth. N. I. 13).]
To understand fully the extent comprehended by the word _exoteric_,
we must recollect that its direct and immediate meaning is negative--
_extraneous to philosophy_, and suitable to an audience not specially
taught or prepared for philosophy. Now this negative characteristic
belongs not merely to dialectic (as we see it in the example above
cited from the Aristotelian Physica), but also to rhetoric or
rhetorical argument. We know that, in Aristotle's mind, the
rhetorical handling and the dialectical handling, are placed both of
them under the same head, as dealing with opinions rather than with
truth.[46] Both the one and the other are parted off from the
didactic or demonstrative march which leads to philosophical truth;
though dialectic has a distant affinity with that march, and is
indeed available as an auxiliary skirmisher. The term _exoteric_ will
thus comprehend both rhetorical argument and dialectical
argument.[47] Of the latter, we have just seen a specimen extracted
from the Physica; of the former, I know no specimen remaining, but
there probably were many of them in the Aristotelian dialogues now
lost--that which was called 'Eudemus,' and others. With these
dialogues Cicero was probably more familiar than with any other
composition of Aristotle. I think it highly probable that Aristotle
alludes to the dialogues in some of the passages where he refers to
"exoteric discourses." To that extent I agree with Bernays; but I see
no reason to believe (as he does) that the case is the same with all
the passages, or that the epithet is to be understood _always_ as
implying one of these lost Aristotelian dialogues.[48]
[Footnote 46: See the first two chapters of Aristotle's Rhetorica,
especially pp. 1355 a. 24-35, 1358 a. 5, 11, 25, also p. 1404 a. 1.:
[Greek: o(/lôs ou)/sês _pro\s do/xan_ tê=s pragmatei/as tê=s peri\
tê\n r(êtorikê/n], which is exactly what he says also about
Dialectic, in the commencement of the Topica.]
[Footnote 47: Octavianus Ferrarius observes, in his treatise De
Sermonibus Exotericis (Venet. 1575), p. 24: "Quod si Dialecticus et
Rhetor inter se mutant, ut aiunt, ita ut Dialecticus Rhetorem et
Rhetor Dialecticum vicissim induat--de his ipsis veteribus
Dialecticis minime nobis dubitandum est, quin iidem dialectice simul
et rhetorice loqui in utramque partem potuerint. Nec valde mirum
debet hoc videri; libros enim exotericos prope solos habuerunt: qui
cum scripti essent (ut posterius planum faciam) dialectico more,
illorum lectio cum libris peperit philosophos congruentes"--Ferrari
adverts well to the distinction between the philosopher and the
dialectician (_sensu Aristotelico_), handling often the same
subjects, but in a different way: between the [Greek: oi)kei=ai
a)rchai/], upon which didactic method rested, and the [Greek: do/xai]
or diverse opinions, each countenanced by more or less authority,
from which dialectic took its departure (pp. 36, 86, 89).]
[Footnote 48: I agree very much with the manner in which Bernays puts
his case, pp. 79, 80, 92, 93: though there is a contradiction between
p. 80 and p. 92, in respect to the taste and aptitude of the exterior
public for dialectic debate; which is affirmed in the former page,
denied in the latter. But the doctrine asserted in the pages just
indicated amounts only to this--that the dialogues were _included in_
Aristotle's phrase, [Greek: e)xôterikoi\ lo/goi]; which appears to me
true.]
There grew up, in the minds of some commentators, a supposition of
"exoteric doctrine" as denoting what Aristotle promulgated to the
public, contrasted with another secret or mystic doctrine reserved
for a special few, and denoted by the term _esoteric_; though this
term is not found in use before the days of Lucian.[49] I believe the
supposition of a double doctrine to be mistaken in regard to
Aristotle; but it is true as to the Pythagoreans, and is not without
some colour of truth even as to Plato. That Aristotle employed one
manner of explanation and illustration, when discussing with advanced
pupils, and another, more or less different, when addressing an
unprepared audience, we may hold as certain and even unavoidable; but
this does not amount to a double positive doctrine. Properly
speaking, indeed, the term "exoteric" (as I have just explained it
out of Aristotle himself) does not designate, or even imply, any
positive doctrine at all. It denotes a many-sided controversial
debate, in which numerous points are canvassed and few settled; the
express purpose being to bring into full daylight the perplexing
aspects of each. There are indeed a few exceptional cases, in which
"exoteric discourse" will itself have thrown up a tolerably
trustworthy result: these few (as I have above shown) Aristotle
occasionally singles out and appeals to. But as a general rule, there
is no _doctrine_ which can properly be called _exoteric_: the
"exoteric discourse" suggests many new puzzles, but terminates
without any solution at all. The doctrine, whenever any such is
proved, emerges out of the didactic process which follows.
[Footnote 49: Luc. Vit. Auct. 26.]
CHAPTER III.
CATEGORIÆ.
Of the prodigious total of works composed by Aristotle, I have
already mentioned that the larger number have perished. But there
still remain about forty treatises, of authenticity not open to any
reasonable suspicion, which attest the grandeur of his intelligence,
in respect of speculative force, positive as well as negative,
systematizing patience, comprehensive curiosity as to matters of
fact, and diversified applications of detail. In taking account of
these treatises, we perceive some in which the order of sequence is
determined by assignable reasons; as regards others, no similar
grounds of preference appear. The works called 1. De Coelo; 2. De
Generatione et Corruptione; 3. Meteorologica,--are marked out as
intended to be studied in immediate succession, and the various
Zoological treatises after them. The cluster entitled Parva Naturalia
is complementary to the treatise De Animâ. The Physica Auscultatio is
referred to in the Metaphysica, and discusses many questions
identical or analogous, standing in the relation of prior to a
posterior, as the titles indicate; though the title 'Metaphysica' is
not affixed or recognized by Aristotle himself, and the treatise so
called includes much that goes beyond the reach of the Physica. As to
the treatises on Logic, Rhetoric, Ethics, Politics, Poetics,
Mechanics, &c., we are left to fix for ourselves the most convenient
order of study. Of no one among them can we assign the date of
composition or publication. There are indeed in the Rhetorica,
Politics, and Meteorologica, various allusions which must have been
written later than some given events of known date; but these
allusions may have been later additions, and cannot be considered as
conclusively proving, though they certainly raise a presumption, that
the entire work was written subsequently to those events.
The proper order in which the works of Aristotle ought to be studied
(like the order proper for studying the Platonic dialogues),[1] was
matter of debate from the time of his earliest editors and
commentators, in the century immediately preceding the Christian era.
Boêthus the Sidonian (Strabo's contemporary and fellow-student)
recommended that the works on natural philosophy and physiology
should be perused first; contending that these were the easiest, the
most interesting, and, on the whole, the most successful among all
the Aristotelian productions. Some Platonists advised that the
ethical treatises should be put in the front rank, on the ground of
their superior importance for correcting bad habits and character;
others assigned the first place to the mathematics, as exhibiting
superior firmness in the demonstrations. But Andronikus himself, the
earliest known editor of Aristotle's works, arranged them in a
different order, placing the logical treatises at the commencement of
his edition. He considered these treatises, taken collectively, to be
not so much a part of philosophy as an _Organon_ or instrument, the
use of which must be acquired by the reader before he became
competent to grasp or comprehend philosophy; as an exposition of
method rather than of doctrine.[2] From the time of Andronikus
downward, the logical treatises have always stood first among the
written or printed works of Aristotle. They have been known under the
collective title of the 'Organon,' and as such it will be convenient
still to regard them.[3]
[Footnote 1: Scholia, p. 25, b. 37, seq. Br.; p. 321, b. 30; Diogen.
L. iii. 62. The order in which the forty-six Aristotelian treatises
stand printed in the Berlin edition, and in other preceding editions,
corresponds to the tripartite division, set forth by Aristotle
himself, of sciences or cognitions generally: 1. Theoretical; [Greek:
theôrêtikai/] 2. Practical; [Greek: praktikai/]. 3. Constructive or
Technical; [Greek: poiêtikai/].
Patricius, in his Discussiones Peripateticæ, published in 1581 (tom.
i. lib. xiii. p. 173), proclaims himself to be the first author who
will undertake to give an account of Aristotle's philosophy _from
Aristotle himself_ (instead of taking it, as others before him had
done, from the Aristotelian expositors, Andronikus, Alexander,
Porphyry, or Averroes); likewise, to be the first author who will
consult _all_ the works of Aristotle, instead of confining himself,
as his predecessors had done, to a select few of the works. Patricius
then proceeds to enumerate those works upon which alone the
professors "in Italicis scholis" lectured, and to which the attention
of all readers was restricted. 1. The Predicabilia, or Eisagoge of
Porphyry. 2. The Categoriæ. 3. The De Interpretatione. 4. The
Analytica Priora; but only the four first chapters of the first book.
5. The Analytica Posteriora; but only a few chapters of the first
book; nothing of the second. 6. The Physica; books first and second;
then parts of the third and fourth; lastly, the eighth book. 7. The
De Coelo; books first and second. 8. The De Generatione et
Corruptione; books first and second. 9. The De Animâ; all the three
books. 10. The Metaphysica; books Alpha major, Alpha minor, third,
sixth, and eleventh. "Idque, quadriennio integro, quadruplicis
ordinis Philosophi perlegunt auditoribus. De reliquis omnibus tot
libris, mirum silentium." Patricius expressly remarks that neither
the Topica nor the De Sophisticis Elenchis was touched in this full
course of four years. But he does not remark--what to a modern reader
will seem more surprising--that neither the Ethica, nor the Politica,
nor the Rhetorica, is included in the course.]
[Footnote 2: Aristot. Topica, i. p. 104, b. 1, with the Scholia of
Alexander, p. 259, a. 48 Br.; Scholia ad Analyt. Prior. p. 140, a.
47, p. 141, a. 25; also Schol. ad Categor. p. 36, a., p. 40, a., 8.
This conception of the Organon is not explicitly announced by
Aristotle, but seems quite in harmony with his views. The
contemptuous terms in which Prantl speaks of it (Gesch. der Logik, i.
136), as a silly innovation of the Stoics, are unwarranted.
Aristotle (Metaph. E. i. p. 1025, b. 26) classifies the sciences as
[Greek: theôrêtikai/, praktikai/, poiêtikai/]; next he subdivides the
first of the three into [Greek: phusikê/, mathêmatikê/, prô/tê